This trip has probably been the most organized I’ve been so far – I had everything ready to go a few days ago, including a check-list to go through before I walked out the door. Yeah, I’m pretty anal of late about travel preparation. I’ve been working on stress reduction since my tachycardia event in Baja, and up until now it has been working well.
And then yesterday, I tried checking in to my flights, which turned into a great test of controlling stress. For some obscure reason, Alaska Airlines would not let me check-in at all. I wound up on the phone with them for the better part of an hour, and had to talk with Iceland Air as well. Turns out the travel agent that National Geographic uses, booked everything through Iceland Air, including the Alaska Air flights, so I had records with both airlines. They did get everything worked out, and all I needed to do in the morning was check-in with Alaska, and show my passport. Relax.
I headed off to the airport early today, just in case – and unfortunately for me it was a case. As the agent behind the counter was checking me in, she suddenly did a “Oh no!”. Not what you want to hear. I guess the ticket record was still a bit confusing since there were booking codes for two different airlines, and she somehow managed to delete my flight to Portland. It took two agents about 45 minutes to straighten the mess out. The agent at one point had a phone held to each ear, one to her airline, the other to Iceland Air. I should have taken a photo, but I doubt if she would have appreciated having that posted on my blog. But, she worked it out, and called me back later to confirm that the flight back home was OK. Good to know. I’ll still check when I get to Reykjavik tomorrow.
Hopefully, that will be the last bit of excitement on the way there. I did not stress out too much at the airport. But I’ll leave this post open until I get on the next plane to Iceland. Once again, just in case.
Peace
Looking good so far…made it to Portland, and the plane is at the gate. Woo hoo! I checked with the agent at the gate, and I’m checked in, with a valid boarding pass. As long as I don’t have a repeat of my Panama security problems (please let me in!!), I should be photographing whales and puffins tomorrow.
And I just don’t understand who selects the art to display at airports.
I want it all, I want it all, I want it all, And I want it now Queen
June 12th, 2026
Warning – this is a bit geekish about cameras.
I’ve been complaining for quite some time (more like whining) about lugging my heavy Sony mirrorless camera around in caves, or other awkward places, such as trying to photograph pretty much anything from a Zodiac (small, rigid, inflatable boat). I’m willing to twist myself into a pretzel with a 500mm lens when photographing whales, bears or sea lions from small boats, but what I really need in most of these situations, is a rugged, waterproof, point and shoot camera, something that would fit more or less in a pocket. I had something close to what I needed with the Sealife underwater camera, but I wound up selling that – the camera technology was dated, it had a small sensor, and you could not buy replacement batteries for it. I also own a GoPro Hero 13, which I have used quite a bit, mostly for snorkeling – definitely waterproof, and has a reasonably sized sensor, but was difficult to use (for me at least) – it was feature rich, but the user interface was difficult to use, mostly due to the small screen size and complex menu system.
I had been considering buying the OM System (formerly Olympus) TG-7 – a very rugged, waterproof point and shoot camera, but much like the Sealife camera (same size), it was dated technology with a sensor even smaller than the GoPro. There have been rumors of OM releasing a new, improved version, but not in the immediate future. Bummer. I really wanted something to use for the upcoming Iceland trip (many caves), Patagonia (a very wet waterfall adventure) and for snorkeling in the Sea of Cortez in December.
Waahhh. I want it now!
My temper tantrum worked. GoPro came to the rescue a few weeks ago, when they announced availability of a new product – the Mission 1 series of action cameras. This is a slightly larger version of the Hero product line, with a much larger sensor (1”, 50mph), a larger display screen, and many new features. That sounded interesting but not enough to get me to buy one until I noticed that there were three options for the product, a Pro model with even more features, and which also included a “grip” model. This was a casing that the camera fit into, which basically created a point-and-shoot camera. Bingo! That pretty much covered everything I was looking for – a high-end, rugged, waterproof (up to 60’) action oriented point and shoot camera. So of course, I ordered one.
As with most electronics, there were only limited instructions in the package. Basically, turn it on, and then follow the instructions on your phone or tablet. Better yet, I did a quick search on YouTube and found a few really comprehensive tutorials for this camera, which is amazing since it has only been out for a few weeks. It’s a very feature rich camera, with many configurations for each shooting mode (photo, video, slow-motion, low-light…). The menu is even more complex than the Hero 13, but the larger screen makes it easier to negotiate. The camera alone is a bit larger than the Hero, as you can see in the photo’s below:
The grip frame is interesting – the camera slides in easily, and has a nice firm feel to it. Just like a “real” camera. The grip also comes apart, making for easy packing…something important for me and all my strange travels. Exactly what I was looking for. There is no view finder – you just use the live screen image on back (or front for selfies) of the camera. A true point-and-shoot.
I plan to have it configured and gain familiarity with it before I leave for Iceland. I am planning to use this in the many caves we will be touring, especially on my solo visit to the big magma chamber (Inside the Volcano) I’ve scheduled for my second day in Reykjavik.
Speaking of Iceland, I received an updated itinerary and have spent some time going through it. For once, I thought it might be a good idea to be a little prepared for what lies ahead. This should be a crazy trip. My first two days are on my own, and I’m doing a whale/puffin tour from the Reykjavik harbor the morning I arrive in Iceland. The second day will be the “Inside the Volcano” tour. The day after is the start of the National Geographic tour – the other 14 people show up that day, and we head off to the Blue Lagoon for a soak in the thermal pool. There will be two more thermal pool soak opportunities on the trip. The rest of the trip wanders about Iceland by bus, visiting a bunch of well known tourist locations, and some lesser known spots as well. Many waterfalls, volcanic features, lava tubes, two small islands, geysers, many birds, and a whale watching trip. Unfortunately, they dropped my absolute favorite stop – a herring processing plant. I do like pickled herring – I was really looking forward to that. I’ll be consoled if I get to see (and photograph) some puffins. Almost as cute as Screech Owls.
Not my photo, I can only hope
All the hotels have WiFi, so I may do a post or two while I’m there. Unlike the expedition cruises I’ve been on, this trip is not as adventurous – more time to relax I hope.
The Traveling Widower 